Double sliding door actuator



Sept. 23, 1969 J, J. HENNESSY, JR 3,468,063

DOUBLE SLIDING DOOR ACTUATOR Filed April 19, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Ii II zgizz:

ATTORN EYS p 23, 1969 J. J. HENNESSY, JR 3,468,063

DOUBLE SLIDING DOOR ACTUATOR Filed April 19, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIGS FICA

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f4 INVENTOR ATTORNEYJ United States Patent US. Cl. 49362 10 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Structure for sliding double doors in the same general plane and comprising a mechanical device attachable to one of said doors by Which a manually applied force to reciprocate the same is multiplied, and an elongated member attachable to opposing portions of both of said doors to hold them in spaced relation to each other whereby the mechanical device may be selectively operated to move the first-mentioned door independently of the other door or to move both of the doors as a unit in spaced relation to each other; also the combination of such structure with double doors particularly on the side wall of a railway house car.

Cross-reference to related application The invention may include the mechanical door operating mechanism disclosed in application filed July 19, 1967, Ser. No. 654,563, in the name of George M. Custer.

Background of the invention The invention is particularly designed and adapted for use in railway boxcars but is not limited to such embodiment and may be used in any structure involving a wall with an opening and opposed sliding doors for closing the opening.

Description of the prior art It has long been the practice to mount sliding doors of the type referred to on elongated tracks and to open and close one or both of the doors separately by manual thrust or by use of crowbars or other prying tools or by application of a cable or push rod actuated by a truck on a loading platform or other roadway. These or similar artifices may be resorted to when the doors are unusually heavy, or if the doors or their tracks are deformed or are blocked by snow, ice, dirt or bulk material, or door movement is resisted by any other cause.

Summary of the invention The invention involves a door moving mechanism applicable directly to one door of a pair of doors, and an associated device readily attached or detached from one or both doors for selectively holding them in spaced relation to each other or accommodating their movement into edge contact.

Brief description of the drawings FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a railway boxcar having a wide opening in its wall with double doors for closing the opening together with a rack and pinion mechanism applied to one of the doors, as disclosed in the abovementioned Custer application, and a connecting bar which is utilized to effect movement of the other door.

FIG. 2 is a drawing on a larger scale showing details of the mounting of the connecting bar on one of the doors and its attachment to the other door.

FIGS. 3-8 are diagrammatic illustrations of successive positions of the doors shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 when the mechanism and connecting bar are utilized as contemplated to open or (in reverse order) to close the doors.

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FIG. 9 is a detail, on an enlarged scale, taken on a plane parallel to the door and passing through the longitudinal center line of the connecting bar.

Description of the preferred embodiment The car illustrated in FIG. 1 comprises the usual trucks 1, 2, sills 3, wall 5 and roof 6. The wall includes a wide opening or passageway P. Doors 11 and 12 are carried on rollers (not shown) mounted upon a track 14 secured to the side sill.

A reduction gearing (not shown) is contained in housing 16, spaced from the door opening at a distance corresponding to the width of door 11 and includes a drive pinion meshed with a rack 18 the forward end of which is connected to the rear edge of door 11. A hand wheel 17 is qused to operate the gearing to reciprocate the rack. This mechanism is disclosed in the above-mentioned Custer application.

An elongated bar 21 of channel cross section is slidablymounted on door 12 by spaced loop shaped brackets 22, 23 and the right hand end of the bar is receivable in a similar bracket 24 on door 11. Each of brackets 23, 24 has through openings. Bracket 22 has an upstanding lug 22a intermediate its ends. After this bracket has been assembled with bar 21 the ends of the bar are closed by caps 21a which oppose lug 22a to limit sliding movement of the bar and prevent its removal from the door.

The upper of each bracket 22, 24 is slotted vertically at S and the slots open through the rear wall of each bracket. Before application of brackets 22, 24 to the door a retaining key or pin 26 is moved transversely through each slot and rests upon the top of the bar until an aperture in the connecting bar is beneath the pin whereupon the pin drops to the position shown in FIG. 9 and holds the bar in position on the door. A similar pin 29 in bracket 24 functions to hold bar 21 connected to door 11.

Operation FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 show the normal closed position of the doors and the normal position of the connecting bar on the left hand door during operation of the car. Assuming it is desired to open the doors, pin 26 is raised, bar 21 shifted to the right (FIG. 4) and pin 29 dropped to attach the right-hand end of the bar to door 11. Hand wheel 17 is then rotated clockwise to move rack 18, door 11 and connecting bar 21 to the position shown in FIG. 5. Pin 26 is then dropped through the left-hand end portion of connecting bar 21. Hand wheel 17 is then rotated counterclockwise, moving both doors to the left, until they are positioned as shown in FIG. 6. Pin 29 is then raised and bar 21 is slid to the position shown in FIG. 7. Hand wheel 17 is then rotated clockwise to move door 11 to the position shown in FIG. 8, thus uncovering the entire doorway.

To close the doors, the above-described manipulation is reversed.

In a test embodiment of the structure described, a gear ratio of thirty-five to one has been used with satisfactory results, making it easy to open and close the doors with relatively slight effort.

It will be understood that the gear ratio may be decreased or increased as may be found desirable; that the right-hand door may be opened and closed independently without moving the left-hand door if it is not desired to use the entire door opening; force-multiplying mechanism other than that shown, for example a reciprocating ratchet and pawl, may be used; the connecting bar may be mounted on the same door to which the rack is attached; and other details of the structure may be varied substantially from these illustrated Without departing from the spirit of the invention and exclusive use of such modifica- 3 tions as come within the scope of the appended claims is contemplated.

I claim:

1. In combination a pair of sliding doors movable to and from each other along a wall, an elongated rack having one end secured to the rear edge of one of said doors, a pinion engaging said rack and mounted on the wall at a point spaced from said door, a connecting bar slidably mounted on the other door, means for releasably attaching one end of said bar to the forward portion of said first-mentioned door and means for releasably attaching the other end of said bar to the forward portion of said bar-mounting door.

2. A structure as described in claim 1 in which the connecting bar is of channel shape in cross section and its mounting on the door comprises a loop-shaped bracket having a stop lug received in the groove of the channel section bar, the ends of the bar being closed to oppose the stop lug and prevent removal of the bar from the bracket.

3. A structure as described in claim 2 in which each of the bar mounting brackets has upper and lower shelves receiving the connecting bar between them, and the attaching means comprises an upright pin adjustable vertically in the upper shelf of one of the brackets to enter an aperture in the connecting bar, the outer side of the bracket being closed to retain the bar and the rear of the bracket being open to permit movement of the pin transversely inwardly of the bracket prior to its mounting on the door.

4. A railway house car having a wall with a wide door opening, double doors slidable along said wall forwardly toward each other to close said opening and rearwardly away from each other to unclose said opening, a forcemultiplying mechanism mounted on said wall at a point spaced from one end of said opening a distance corresponding to the width of the adjacent door, an elongated horizontally disposed rack secured at one end to the rear portion of said door and extending into operative engagement with said mechanism, and an elongated horizontally disposed connecting bar mounted on one of the doors and extendible beyond the forward portion of the door on which it is mounted when the doors are moved away from each other and engageable with the other door to hold the doors spaced apart approximately the width of a door.

5. A railway house car as described in claim 4 in which horizontally spaced brackets on the bar-mounting door slidably receive the connecting bar, there being a bracket on the forward portion of the other door similarly receiving the adjacent end portion of the bar when the .4 latter is extended beyond the forward portion of its mounting door, and readily releasable holding pins inserted through selective apertures in said bar and brackets respectively.

6. A railway house car as described in claim 4 in which the rack is secured to the rear portion of one of the doors and the connecting bar is slidably mounted on the other door.

7. A structure as described in claim 4 which includes elements slidably mounting the connecting bar on one door, and means for selectively attaching the connecting bar to different portions of the door upon which it is mounted.

8. The combination of a wall and doors as described in claim 4 in which the length of the bar corresponds to the width of the door on which it is mounted and the width of each door corresponds to half the width of the opening in the wall.

9. Operating structure for manually moving a pair of sliding doors toward and away from each other to close and unclose an opening, comprising an elongated doorconnecting bar, elements for readily attaching and detaching opposite ends of said bar to spaced apart doors respectively and hold them in spaced relation, a forcemultiplying mechanical device operatively connected to one of said doors to move that door only when said bar is not attached to both doors, and to move said doors as a unit in spaced relation when said bar is attached to both doors.

10. Operating structure as described in claim 9 which includes brackets slidably receiving the connecting bar and applicable to a pair of doors to mount the bar upon the doors, said brackets and bar having respective apertures which may be aligned and disaligned selectively, and pins applicable to aligned apertures to hold the relative position of the bar relative to the doors and the doors relative to each other.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 380,690 4/1888 Peirce 49-362 1,337,348 4/1820 Edman 49207 X 1,853,559 4/1832 Halpin et al. 49- 275 X DAVID J. WILLIAMOWSKY, Primary Examiner I. KARL BELL, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 49-98 

